San Juan Comalapapopulation 39,000

View of

Comalapa

San Juan Comalapa

Dept. of Chimaltenango

Clustered city surrounded by small farming plots

Traditional traje, machete and hoe, “azidon”

Wood-burning stove, multi-generational compounds

Children all work

Market Day is Tues. Friday Sunday

Community Pila

Weaving is a major industry

• 70% Catholics, 30% Evangelical Christians• Agrarian lifestyle• School 4-5 hrs/day, onlythrough grade 8• High School costs money• Traditional dress and roles

In Comalapa, the indigenous Kaq’chikel are 95% of the population

5% of the world population

are considered indigenous yet

15% of the world’s poor are

indigenous.

Indigenous people are over-

represented in the group of

the “world’s poor.”

Indigenous people are an important group of

rural poor.

Indigenous people

constitute an

important group of

rural poor.

In Guatemala some 86.6% of

the indigenous

people are poor.

44% of population

in Guatemala are

indigenous people

Indigenous people are an important group of

rural poor.

Yet do not make a strong political force. The single indigenous candidate, Rigoberta

Menchú, received

only 3% of the vote in 2008 national

presidential election.

44% of Guatemalan population are

indigenous, 50% of them are Mayan

Received Nobel Peace Prize 1992

Wrote autobiography“I, Rigoberta Menchu”

StatisticsLife Cycle Median age:

36.7 years Median age:19.2 years

School Life Expectancy

total: 16 years male: 15 years female: 16 years (2006)

total: 10 years male: 11 years female: 10 years (2006)

Gross National Income per capita

$41,950 $4,410

Literacy 99%99% male99% female

56%63% male49% female

Population below poverty line

12% 56%

Expenditures on education

5.3% of GDP (2005)

2.6% of GDP (2006)

USA Guatemala

Facts taken from the Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook

Why Guatemala? Why Comalapa?• Suffer from institutional poverty, racism and control of their social circumstances

by the rich “the global poor, if only they had been born into different social circumstances, would be just as able and likely to lead healthy,

happy and productive lives as the rest of us. The root cause of their suffering is their abysmal social starting position, which does not give them much of a chance to become anything but poor, vulnerable and dependent — unable to give their children a better start than they had had themselves.”

“The better-off enjoy significant advantages in the use of a single natural resource base from whose benefits the worse-off are

largely, and without compensation, excluded.”Thomas W. Pogge, Associate Prof. of philosophy at Columbia U

• High unemployment rate in rural areas• High illiteracy: Few educational opportunities after 6th grade • Guatemala has a population of about 14 million and over

400,000 youth are in gangs, which is about 2.8%, their solution to the above set of ills

• Family oriented, warm, caring culture with a long, colorful and rich history

Long Way Home’s mission is to break the cycle of poverty

among youth in developing communities by

•Creating educational opportunities

Tecnico Maya Vocational School

•Cultivating civic interactionSimajuleu Civic Group

•Encouraging healthy lifestylesParque Chimyá

Recycling

Rebecca Sanchez, Volunteer Coordinator

Ericka Temple, Architect

Aaron Colvin, Assistant Project Mgr.

Matt Paneitz, Executive Director, Founder LWH

Adam Howland, Project Mgr.Liz Howland

Not shown: Andy Case, Webmaster

Parque Chimiyá

Parque Chimiya, basketball court, soccer field, organic gardens, public park open dawn to dusk

Reforestation Program: 37,000 trees planted in four years

1,182 hours of work

Reforestation Program: 37,000 trees planted in four years

1,182 hours of work

Typical method of trash disposal

Tecnico Maya Vocational School

A practical demonstration of transforming waste into

•structurally sound, eco-friendly, low-cost, low-tech structures•earthquake resistant!•introduce green building technology to a developing country•teach environmental hygiene •bring jobs and business opportunities to Comalapa

Raw materials

Tires are collected from Chimaltenango, 30 miles away

Excavation

Adam and the crew fill tires with earth.

Foundation in one week, January 2009

Foundation is filled with gravel and earth-filled tires

Crew filling top tier of tires

School taking shape

Roof has a drainage system that diverts water to a cistern.

Volunteer bringing concrete to roof

November 2009February 2010Finished interior-no tires in sight

Volunteer fills a liter bottle with earth to make a brick.

Earth-filled and litter-filled liter bottles form the structure for building.

Earth-filled and litter-filled liter bottles form the structure for building.

Bottles filled with litter are the basis for this structure which became a community library.

Feliciano, Clara and their three children in front of Hotel Comalapa Sol

Past volunteer, Rafael Lindau

Rafael works on a tire for the vocational school.

Beneficiaries

Rafael pounds dirt into tires in the foundation of the water tank.

LWH volunteers and the local community teamed together with the Minnesota chapter of Engineers Without Borders to construct a 67,000 gallon water harvesting system for the town of Simajuleu.

Beneficiaries of the water tank. It will help 5000 people have better access to water.

http://catorcekt.wordpress.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeOouXAC42c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SvZ_8Tq8Jo

Possible College Majors that would prepare you for a career in Development Work:

•Spanish•International Relations•History•Latin American History•Environmental Studies•Environmental Science•Economics/Business•Non-profit management•Archaeology•Webdesign/Marketing/Media•Journalism

350 interns and volunteers

since 2004

We believe that in order to break the cycle of poverty people need to

know that it exists.

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